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War of the sexes?
A visitor to our shores, after perusing our daily newspapers, would be forgiven if (s)he concluded that a war between the sexes has been declared in Guyana. Murders, maimings and other gratuitous acts of violence have become the norm. But if the details are analysed even cursorily, it becomes quickly evident that the violence flows overwhelmingly in one direction – male to female and, just as overwhelmingly, the females are in some domestic relationship with their attackers.
We cannot pretend that the problem of domestic violence is new or unique to Guyana; it is only receiving greater coverage in the media on account of a handful of dedicated activists. We have had a Domestic Violence Act since 1996. This had followed closely on the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in September 1995, at which Guyana had been represented. It was highlighted there that violence affected the lives of millions of women worldwide, in all socio-economic, cultural, religious and educational strata. The Secretary General of the UN noted that domestic violence alone was on the increase: studies in 10 countries had found between 17-38 per cent of women had suffered physical assaults from their male partners.
Studies at the University of Guyana and statistics compiled by organisations such as Help and Shelter confirm the core finding that domestic violence is essentially a problem of the male. Last November, the President convened a conference on the issue at the Office of the President. Present were approximately twenty-five civic organisations that were interested in identifying a “strategic” approach to deal with the problem.
At the end of the encounter, Minister of Human Services and Social Security Priya Manickchand (who had conducted her own broad-based consultations months earlier) concluded: “What came out that was very useful was that we have to work with men and fathers more”. She promised that “you are going to see very visible work being done”.
In the commendable flurry of activities that has been initiated with the appointment of the Minister, the Domestic Violence National Policy was launched after widespread consultations in June 2008 to presumably fill identified lacunae in the 1996 Act. According to the Minister, the new initiative was “a comprehensive five-year policy (that) …contains systematic areas for action. She fulsomely promised that “this will not be just policy on paper, but rather will see the realisation of words into action”.
Launched under the theme: ‘Break the cycle…Take control’, it was declared that the implementation of the Policy would result not only in strengthened prevention mechanisms and increased protection and service provision for those affected by domestic violence, in line with its core principle, but also the transformation of attitudes that condone or normalise such violence, “such as gender stereotyping and discrimination”.
In a hard-hitting speech, the Minister of Home Affairs accepted the past failure of the Police Force in enforcing the law in this area and promised, “more effective and aggressive policing …in order for the measures of the policy to be implemented”.
However, the latter Minister’s admission that he found it difficult to understand the alarming increased level of domestic violence against women given their pivotal role in the family shows that enough focus had not been placed on the acknowledged stereotypes that men have of women’s place, not only in Guyana but in the world at large. Violence against women is shaped by a wide variety of social factors, at personal, situational and social levels. But we know that this violence is more likely in contexts where manhood is defined as about dominance, toughness, or male honour. If the Minister of Home Affairs was not apprised of this now-uncontested finding, then what are we to expect of the society at large? Unless programmes are designed to confront and deal with this male orientation we will merely be offering palliatives.
Subsequent to the launching of the National Policy on Domestic Violence, a Domestic Violence Unit was established by the Ministry of Human Services to oversee its implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The report of its activity over the last four months published earlier this month only emphasised that the key causative factor – male attitudes on the “place” of women – is being ignored.
Preaching to the Carnegie School of Home Economics, women in Linden and members of the Guyana Girl Guides’ Association is really preaching to the choir.
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